Aber ich habe eine Frage- was ist der Unterschied zwischen 'Reh' und 'Hirsch'? Wordreference.com/de gives "Reh(fleisch)" as the translation for 'venison'

Your friend thinks like me- when I hear 'venison' I think deer meat. In reality though, 'venison' can refer to the meat of any game animal, but particulary deer, according to M-W.

"Reh" and what is normally referred to as "Hirsch" in Germany (=Rothirsch) are two different types of animals. See the URL for a comparison (http://www.uni-koblenz.de/~odsgroe/pohirsch.htm). Biologically it seems "Hirsch" is used for the whole group of animals, with the "Reh" being one member of it. (http://www.tierlobby.de/rubriken/Tiergarten/h...)

I agree with Kevin that I would only ever think of deer meat when hearing "venison". Of course, this could just be a case of one kind of venison being so common that it's now the default (not unlike tomato ketchup, even though there are other kinds of ketchup).

So does anyone know the English words for the different species that world be called "Reh" or "Hirsch"?

On that note, I'm going to start a thread to gather the difinitive answer to what the hell elk, moose, caribou, and reindeer are called in German.

Whatever it is in English - it has nothing to do with "Brett". The spelling - LEO's got it right - is "Wildbret" with one "t".

Chiming in with the crowd--venison = deer only, for me. I've had caribou, and it was called 'caribou' on the menu.

Familie Hirsche = Familia Cervidae = family cervidae
32 (?) Hirscharten, darunter

Elch = Alces alces = Moose
Wapiti-Hirsch (Roosevelt-Hirsch) = Cervus elaphus (canadensis) = Elk, Wapiti, Roosevelt Elk
Karibu = Rangifer tarandus = Caribou
Ren(tier) = Rangifer tarandus = reindeer

/ Reindeer and Caribou look different, but they probably are the same species. Reindeer are slightly smaller and were domesticated in northern Eurasia about 2000 years ago. Reindeer were introduced into Alaska and Canada last century, but most attempts failed. (http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/caribou_rei...) /

(Rot)hirsch = Cervus elaphus hippelaphus = Red Deer
Reh = Capreolus capreolus = roe deer

BTW, what kind of animal is Bambi?

I remember from my childhood that may mother always protested when Bambi was referred to a a "Reh", since she said it was a "Hirsch".

And to add my 2 Euro-cents to the discussion:

After all, what other meat than roe deer meat is referred to as "Wild" in Germany? I cannot think of anything else. Boar is called "Wildschwein", hare is called "Hase", rabbit is called "Kaninchen". I believe the usage of "venison" in English and the usage of "Wild" in German are pretty much the same.

Wild ist im Deutschen doch eher ein allgemeiner Begriff für essbare Säugetiere (meines Wissens keine Vögel) aus Feld und Wald im Gegensatz zu Haustieren. Darunter fallen Wildhasen, Rehe, Hirsche, Wildschweine (Schwarzwild)und anderes. Wild ist im Geschmack deutlich kräftiger als Haustierarten, man kann z.B. einen Unterschied zwischen Wildhase und Stallhase bemerken.
Geht man nun davon aus, das venison nur deer meat meint, ist es nicht mit Wild oder Wildbret gleichzusetzten.
Außerdem unterscheide ich Wild und Wildbret, weil Wild sich auch auf lebende Tiere beziehen kann (Wildpark), während Wildbret nur totes Fleisch meint.

BF: I remeber reading an (partly ironic) article about Bambi, blaming that movie (at least the German version) for addling helpless children by mixing up Reh and Hirsch, so that the generations after Bambi are not able to distinguish anymore.

AFAIR the articel said that Bambi is a Hirschkalb and her mother is a Hirschkuh and not a Reh - your mother should be right.